Telecom Exec Threatens Flight in Denver

The Denver jail hosted a would-be air terrorist last night who turned out to be a telecommunications executive just trying to fly home from Denver International Airport to Salt Lake City.

Sergei Berejnoi, 49, of Sandy, Utah will be posting bail today, set at $15,000, for missing his flight, causing a scene and causing a plane to be called back to the gate so his luggage could be procured and searched.

"He was irate enough to have the gate agents call the police department and have him arrested," said Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson, especially after his angry comments alluded to a bomb inside his luggage.

Skywest Flight 6694 had already left the gate just after 7 p.m. when Berejnoi arrived and tried to board the flight. Angry with the possibility of having to spend the night in Denver, he made a scene and started claiming the luggage he had checked contained explosives.

"We checked the luggage and there was nothing in there of any consequence," said Jackson.

The airplane left, once again, without Berejnoi and the detainee had to spend the night in Denver anyway – in a jail cell.

Berejnoi, the owner of owner and president of Mission Tel Inc., a low-cost international long-distance telephone company, is charged with endangering public transportation. The crime is punishable by up to 12 years in jail and a $750,000 fine.